Asian Literature: Representative Authors

Representative Texts and Authors from Asia

• Asian literature often explores themes of religion, war, and politics and is best approached by studying specific regions.

East Asia

• China's literary tradition dates back to the 14th century BCE, preserved through its language.
• The Tang Dynasty (618–907) was a peak era, notable for its distinguished poets.

Notable Chinese Authors

• Du Fu (Tu Fu) is considered China's greatest poet.
  • The Ballad of the Army Cats critiques conscription and court luxury.
• Li Po (Li Bai) was known for vivid imagery and conversational tone.
  • Alone and Drinking under the Moon explores the custom of drinking.
• Wang Wei was a poet, painter, musician, and statesman in the Tang Dynasty.
  • His landscape poems influenced the Southern school of painter-poets.
• Mo Yan, the 2012 Nobel Laureate in Literature, penned Red Sorghum.
  • The novel depicts Chinese resistance against Japanese invaders during the 1930s.
• Yu Hua is a postmodernist writer.
  • To Live describes the hardships of a wealthy landowner's son during the Chinese Revolution.

Essential Chinese Texts

• Thunderstorms by Cao Yu (drama)
• Family by Pa Jin (novel)
• Please Don't Call Me Human by Wang Shou (novel)
• Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling (short story)
• On a Gate Tower at Yuzhou by Zhang Chenzhi (poetry)
• Battle by Chu'u Yuan (poem)

Korean Literature

• Korean literary tradition was influenced by China.
• Early poetry was in Classical Chinese until the 7th century.
• The creation of Hangul in the 15th century initiated a new literary phase.
• The Korean War (1950) shaped themes like alienation, conscience, disintegration, and self-identity.

Notable Korean Authors

• Ch'oe Nam-Seon was a historian, poet, publisher, and pioneer of modern Korean poetry.
  • The Ocean to the Youth advocated for cultural reform.
• Yi Kwang-su co-founded the modern literary movement.
  • The Heartless portrays Korea's struggle between tradition and modernity.
• Kim Ok was a poet and early modernist and translated Western poetry.
  • The Dance of Agony is one of his translations.
• Yun Hunggil won the 1977 Korean Literature Writers Award.
  • Changma (The Rainy Spell) depicts a post-war family.
• Pak Kyongni was a poet and novelist.
  • T’oji (The Land) chronicles Korean history (1897–1945) in 21 volumes.

Japanese Literature

• Japanese literature, influenced by China produced haiku, Noh and Kabuki forms.
• Literature reflects simplicity, complexity, and beauty.
• Modern Japanese literature integrates Western elements.

Notable Japanese Authors

• Abe Kobo (Abe Kimifusa) was a playwright and novelist.
  • Tomodachi (Friends) explores human relationships with dark humor.
  • He won the Akutagawa Award in 1967 and 1951.
• Mishima Yukio (Kimitake Hiraoka) was the 1963 Nobel Prize finalist.
  • The Temple of the Golden Pavilion is based on the 1950 arson of Kyoto’s Kinkaku-ji.
• Ryūnosuke Akutagawa is considered the "Father of the Japanese short story."
  • Rashomon depicts an encounter at Kyoto’s ruined Rashomon gate.
  • The Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s top literary award, was named in his honor.
• Haruki Murakami is an internationally acclaimed novelist and Jerusalem Prize winner.
  • Hear the Wind Sing follows a protagonist reflecting on life and intimacy.
  • His works have been translated into 50+ languages

Middle East

• Arabic literary tradition flourished in the Middle East, influenced by Persian, Byzantine, and Andalusian traditions.
• Islam significantly impacts culture and literature.
• Modern Arabic writers face restrictions on expression and tensions between secular and religious ideas.

Notable Middle Eastern Authors

• Albas Mahmoud al-Aqqad was an Egyptian poet, journalist, and literary critic.
  • Al-Aqqad innovated 20th-century Arabic poetry and criticism.
  • Renowned for Abqariyat series on key followers of Muhammad.
• Taha Hussein was the "Dean of Arabic Literature,” an Egyptian novelist, and critic.
  • His autobiography The Days details his childhood and studies in Egypt and France
• Ali Ahmad Said Esber (Adonis) is a Syrian-born Lebanese poet and modernist leader in Arabic poetry.
  • He won the 2011 Goethe Prize and 2017 PEN/Nabokov Award.
  • First Poems, Leaves in the Wind are two of his notable works.
• Etgar Keret is an Israeli writer of short stories, graphic novels, and scripts.
  • Fly Already (Glitch at the Edge of the Galaxy) won Israel's Sapir Prize in Literature in 2019.

Essential Texts for Middle Eastern Reading

• Last Simile by Abid B Al-Abras (poem)
• Lamiyyat 'al-Arab by Al-Shanfarã (poem)
• Cities of Salt by Abdul Rahman Munif (novel)
• That Smell and Notes from Prison by Sonallah Ibrahim (novel)
• The People of the Cave by Tawfig al-Hakim (novel)
• A Love Poem by Umm Khalid Annumairiyya (poem)
• Bin Barka Ally by Mahmoud Saeed (novel)
• I Am The One Who Saw (Saddam City) by (Mahmoud Saeed novel)
• A Thousand Splendid Sun by Khaled Hosseini (novel)

South and Southeast Asia

• Indian literature with Sanskrit roots dates back to 1500 BCE.
• English literature was introduced during British colonization by the 16th century, influencing Indian literary traditions.
• Kalidasa is often regarded as the Hindu Shakespeare.
• Southeast Asian literature is shaped by Buddhist, Thai, and English cultures.
• Malaysian and Indonesian literature reflect Sanskrit and Islamic influences.
• Modern themes include colonial and postcolonial experiences and Western influences.

Notable South and Southeast Asian Authors

• Rabindranath Tagore, the "Bard of Bengal" and 1913 Nobel Prize winner, is known for Gitanjali (Song Offerings).
• Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (Prem Chand) was a Pioneer of Indian themes in Western styles.
  • His novel Godaan (Cow Donation) explores socio-economic deprivation and rural exploitation.
• Raja Rao is a noted Indian prose stylist.
  • The Serpent and the Rope won the Sahitya Akademi Award, and he has also received the Neustadt International Prize for Literature.
• Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan (R. K. Narayan) is one of India’s greatest English-language authors.
  • The Guide was adapted into a film and Broadway production.
• Chart Korbjitti is Thailand’s most successful writer.
  • Khamphiphaksa (The Judgment) won Thailand's Literature Council Book of the Year and the S.E.A. Write Award.
  • Was named National Artist in Literature (2004).
• Nguyen Du is considered the "Father of Vietnamese Literature.”
  • His epic The Tale of Kieu narrates the struggles of a young woman sacrificing herself for her family.
• Tengku Amir Hamzah was an Indonesian poet and National Hero of Indonesia.
  • His collection Nyanyi Sunyi explore faith, fate, and human struggles.
  • Hamzah is the only internationally recognized Indonesian Poet.

Essential South and Southeast Asian Texts

• In Custody by Anita Desai (novel)
• The Gods of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (novel)
• The Folded Earth by Anuradha Roy (novel)
• The Feather of the Dawn by Sarojini Naidu Subrahmanyam (poetry)
• The Caged Ones by Ludu U Hla (novel)
• A Crazy Man's Shoulder Bag by Hmawbi Saya Thein (anecdote)
• Working Elephants by Kyi Aye (essay)
• The General Retires and Other Stories by Nguyen Huy Thiep (short story)

Central Asia

• Central Asian literature showcases literary characteristics and political influences.
• Contemporary literature is largely influenced by Russian writers.
• Some Central Asian writers are gaining international recognition.

Notable Central Asian Authors

• Abdullah Qodiriy (Julgunboy) was an influential Uzbek writer, poet, and translator.
  • O'tgan kunlar (Days Gone By) is the first Uzbek novel.
• Mukhtar Auez-uli was a Soviet Kazakh writer.
  • Abay is based on the life and poetry of Kunanbay-uli.
• Chingiz Aytmatov, was both a Soviet and Kyrgyz author.
  • Jamila depicts a love story during World War II.

Representative Texts and Authors from Africa

• African literature exhibits the desire for freedom and contentment.
• It includes oral traditions and written literature from local languages influenced by colonizers.
• Colonization and post-colonization experiences figure significantly.
• It reflects freedom struggles, cultural identity, and documented history through oral traditions.
• 19th-century colonization awakened African consciousness, leading to literary resistance in newspapers.
• Contemporary writers critique government corruption and shape national identity.

Notable African Authors

• Chinua Achebe (Nigeria):Things Fall Apart explores Igbo life during colonial rule.
• Wole Soyinka (Nigeria): First black African Nobel Prize laureate, A Dance of the Forests critiques post-independence Nigeria.
• Kofi Awoonor (Ghana): This Earth, My Brother blends narrative and symbolic mysticism amidst postcolonial issues.
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (Kenya): Weep Not, Child focuses on the Mau Mau Uprising.
• Okot p’Bitek (Uganda): His poem Song of Lawino contrasts rural and Westernized urban life.
• Nadine Gordimer (South Africa): Recognized for The Conservationist, which critiques South African apartheid.
• Jacques Rabemananjara (Madagascar): Les dieux malgaches, depicts Madagascar’s pre-colonial past.
• Es’kia Mphahlele (South Africa): Down Second Avenue critiques South Africa's racial segregation.
• Thomas Mofolo (Lesotho): Chaka, which tells a historical novel about the Zulu king, Shaka.

Essential African Texts

• The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge by Valentin-Yves Mudimbe (essay)
• The Cardinals by Bessie Head (novel)
• Striving for the Wind by Meja Mwangi (novel)
• The Famished Road by Ben Okri (novel)
• Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih (novel)
• To Every Birth its Blood by Mongane Serote (novel)
• The Palm-Wide Drinkard by Amos Tutuola (novel)
• Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (novel)
• Mission to Kala by Mango Beti (novel)
• Up in Arms by Chenjerai Hove (poetry)
• Tales of Amadou Koumba by Birago Diop (fiction tales)
• Muriel at Metropolitan by Miriam Tlali (novel)

Representative Texts and Authors from North America

• North America is the third biggest landmass by region, following Asia, Africa and Europe.
• The region includes Central America, Mexico, United States, Canada, Greenland, and islands of the Caribbean.

Notable North American Authors

• David L. Weatherford is a child psychologist who who writes poetry.
  • His poem "Slow Dance" is published in “Chicken Soup for the Soul”.
  • Weatherford was born on July 20, 1952, in Mount Vernon, Illinois.
• Alfred Edward Housman, known as A.E. Housman, was an English traditional researcher and writer.
  • Best known for sonnets “A Shropshire Lad."
  • "When I was One-and-Twenty" is one of his works.
• Kate Chopin was an American author of short stories and books set in Louisiana.
  • She's a harbinger of American women's rights writers of Southern or Catholic upbringing. -The Story of An Hour is one of her works.
• James Grover Thurber was an American sketch artist, creator, comedian, writer, and dramatist. -Known for cartoons and short stories in The New Yorker.
  • He's known for his comic depictions of common individuals.
• Robert Charles Benchley was an American comedian popular for his work as a paper editorialist and film entertainer.

Representative Texts and Authors from Latin America

• Latin America is where Romance dialects, mostly, Spanish, Portuguese, and French, are spoken.
• Latin America includes Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, French Guiana, Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Puerto Rico.

Representative Texts and Authors from Europe

• European literature builds upon world literature before Europe's birth.
• Classical languages inherited from the Old World are key.
• European languages and novel, poetry and epic literary forms have seen global expansion since the Renaissance.
• European literature exists in many languages, including English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Greek, Czech, Russian, Macedonian, Scandinavian, Gaelic, and Turkish.
• Important classical and medieval traditions: Latin Ancient Greek, Old Bulgarian, Macedonian, Old Norse, Medieval French, and the Italian Tuscan dialect.

Periods of European Literature

Old English or Anglo-Saxon (c.450 – 1066)

• Surviving literature was written in Old English post-Saxon settlement with Germanic tribes.
• Ended after the Norman Conquest in 1066.
• Genres include epic poetry, hagiography, sermons, Bible translations, chronicles, and riddles.

Middle English Literature (1066 – 1500)

• Written in dialects of region, history, culture, and background of writers.
• Genres include allegorical narrative poems, dramas, liturgy, folktales, hagiographies, historiography, Bible translations, and romances.

English Renaissance (1500 – 1660)

• Introduced the sonnet genre from Italy to England
• Includes romances, allegorical narrative poems, dramas, folktales, vernacular literature and liturgy, sonnets, and Bible translations.

Elizabethan Period (1558 – 1603)

• Saw the rise of Edmund Spenser and Sir Philip Sidney.
• William Shakespeare stands out as a poet.
• Includes Christopher Marlowe and Ben Johnson.
• Genres include English and Renaissance theater, poetry, epic poems, songs, tragedies, romances, and tragicomedies.

Jacobean Period (1603 – 1625)

• Is the birth of Shakespeare’s “problem plays” and tragedies.
• Popularized English sonnets
• Includes problem and revenge plays, tragedies, romances and metaphysical poems.

Late Renaissance (1625 – 1660)

• Growth of the second generation of metaphysical poets.
• Appearance of allegory, classical allusions, and epic poetry
• Includes metaphysical poems, allegories, classical allusions, and epics.

Restoration Age (1660 – 1700)

• Marked by literary criticism.
• Included John Milton's religious flux and political upheaval and his epic poem.
• Genres include fiction, journals, moral wisdom prose, political/economic writing, fictional biographies, literary criticism, narratives, philosophical themes, romance and epic, allegory, drama, satirical verse, novel and comedy.

Age of Romanticism (1798 – 1837)

• Displayed prominence of landscape in artistic, literary, and intellectual movements.
• The Romantics saw described poets in this era
• Consisted of elegies, romantic novels, poetry and visual arts, metrical romances, historical novels, sonnets, dramatic monologues, nature poems, Lyrical Ballads, and romantic poems.

Victorian Literature (1837 – 1901)

• Novels gained prominence.
• Charles Dickens became a key literary figure.
• Witnessed the start of detective novels.
• Genre elements include vampire literature, melodramas, science fiction, horror and realistic fiction, musical burlesques, invasion literature, comic operas, romanticism, short stories, novels, ghost stories, children's literature, feminist novels, horror stories, poetry, and literary realism.

Modernism (1901 – 2000)

• English literary modernism developed in the early twentieth-century.
• Lyric poets and major novels gained prominence.
• Featured conservative poetry, sentimentalism and hedonism with romanticism.
• Included Rudyard Kipling as a British writer.
• Genres include radio dramas, modernist poetry, genre fiction, conservatism, fantasy, impressionism, science fiction, and lyric poetry, short stories, feminism, detective novels, allegorical novels, thriller writing, television plays, comic science fiction, darkly comic fantasy, and children’s novels.

Representative Texts and Authors from European Literature of the Ancient Greece England - Age of Restoration (1660–1700)

• John Milton was an English poet and intellectual (1608 - 1674 ).
• Served as a civil servant, wrote during religious and political upheaval.
• Known for the epic Paradise Lost.

17th Century Russian Literature

• Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Leo Tolstoy) (1828-1910) was a Russian writer.
  • He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature every year from 1902 to 1906.
  • He wrote War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877)

Representative Texts and Authors from other European Countries Table:

Literary Genres

• Prose, poetry, and drama each possess a unique style.
• Prose is a basic writing form in chapters and has fictitious and non-fictitious types.
• Drama is a style portraying actions in dialogue, originally acted on stage.
• Poetry is requires figures of speech and structures of verse with meter or rhyme.

Structure in Poetry

• Poem structure includes line length and stanza format.
• Line length affects reading pace and emotion.
• Rhythm is measured in meter.
• Stanzas, a group of lines, focus on multiple ideas like paragraphs.
• Structure also includes consistency of the poem

Summary of Literary Text Elements of Anna Karenina

• Genre: Prose and poetry that deals with, romance, tragedy, dramatic and literary fiction.
• Theme: Philosophical value of farming, family blessing, adultery, forgiveness, death, social change in 19th Century.
• Setting: 19th Century in the Russian countryside, Moscow, Petersburg.
• This an insane time of people debating new directions for Russia.
• Characters:
  • Anna Arkadyevna Karenina: A St. Petersburg married woman who get social exile due to her affair and ends in suicide.
  • Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin: Anna's a formal duty-bound husband, a high-ranking minister. He succumbs to convention, presents a flawless facade and Alexei.
  • Kirillovich Vronsky:A wealthy military who causes Karenins misery and has his career ruined.
  • Konstantin Dmitrich Levin: A generous and socially awkward landowner, the book's co-protagonist who is philosophical, is interested in agriculture and eventually gets married.
  • Ekaterina Alexandrovna Shcherbatsky: Levin has courted Kitty for a long time. In the end she becomes they marry, is based on Tolstoy’s wife and she shows kindness to all, in the end.
• Plot
  • Initial Situation: Anna and Levin’s lives are extremely different
  • Conflict: Anna meets Vronsky and Levin wants to farm
  • Complication:Karenin is broken by his with Anna. Anna turns to Vronsky. -Vronsky Levin needs farms and marridge.
  • Climax: Anna experiences a break with Karenin tying them to Vrongky as levin finnaly is married. What will karenin do about his mad wife?
  • Denouement: Levin becomes married to satisfied and Anna commits. Levin has a realization.
  • Viewpoint: Third-person, all-knowing perspective shifts between Anna, Vronsky, Levin and Karenin

Basic Elements of a Short Story

• Character: Characters are like the story's heart. The protagonist learns or changes.
  • The antagonist challenges the protagonist.
• Setting: The setting might be based on the author's imagination.
• Plot: Plot is the actual story that rises to the highest point of interest in a time.
  • Exposition is the story's beginning.
  • Rising action builds conflicts.
  • The climax is the most exciting part.
  • Falling action occurs with problems that become resolved. - The resolution is the solution of the story with tone and theme. - Conflict: Can be man versus man, nature, himself, and society.
• Theme: It is message the author tries send to readers.
• Point of View: The narrative has the following types: - View from first, limited third, and omniscient third persons.